Neighbour wants no drilling this afternoon

[Daisydrum]

We are having work done on our house. The workers are only here M-F within normal hours. Our neighbour has asked for no drilling this afternoon because of important calls. Not sure if they are being unreasonable?
We did warn them months ago work was coming and when work was starting.
They have had about 2 years worth of work on and off, often during my important calls (and they’ve had it on evenings and weekends).
I’m not sure if the builders will need to use the drill or not but there will certainly be some banging as we can’t expect them to do no work for the whole afternoon.
Not sure what to say back.

Communication is always best, especially when you have neighbors!

Ask, if requested, make sure neighbour knows it can’t be repeated, if granted

Right now many of us don’t get a choice in working from home

No we don't but our neighbours and families have even less choice.

It’s a difficult one, as a one off it seems unreasonable to say no, but I expect if you agree, there will be more requests. To remain neighbourly tell the builders, but essentially the work needs to be done. It’s tough unfortunately, unless of course you made similar requests to you neighbour during there works?

As a one off courtesy I'd ask builders to keep it down. Did you mention noise when they were having work done, did you wfh?

After 3 weeks i'd be stressed but clearly that's just me. I don't understand this attitude of "I want, therefore it's my right". Whatever happened to being civilised towards your own bloody neighbours. How are they trying to assert control?! Bonkers. It shouldn't be that difficult to find it within oneself to be understanding.

I don't see why so many people are advocating sarcastic responses or passive-aggressive replies or getting so het up about being asked.

I don't think it was unreasonable in the least for them to have asked. They didn't demand, they didn't expect, they just asked. You can say no, but no reason not to say no nicely, especially given that you have to live next to them for the foreseeable future.

But I would try to say yes. It could be difficult and expensive for them to try to get some kind of office space for what might just be an infrequent but very important call, and your builders might easily be able to find other jobs that need doing in that time that doesn't actually affect you at all. So I can totally see why they asked if it might be possible. Why not ask the builders if they can accommodate it, and if needed, ask your neighbours for a more precise time?

If they are otherwise good neighbours, if there's no indication that this is the start of many requests, then why not just try to be helpful if you can? You might need them for something in the future as well!

No need to assume the worst about them though, and if you have no other reason to think that they are going to mess you around, just politely chat and see if it is or isn't possible - but don't have a go at them for just asking.

@HeddaGarbled

I think it's a reasonable request actually, as a one off

I agree. How ungenerous not to try and comply with a specific request for one afternoon.

Yep

I also think that of they are decent neighbours then ask the builders if they can avoid drilling that afternoon. I don't understand why you wouldn't.

To be fair,I asked the builder next door if he could avoid drilling for a certain hour last week. My son was having to give a job interview presentation for his dream post grad job. My neighbour was ok about it and it didn’t cross my mind that it would be a problem.
If it was important phone calls I would just go somewhere else to take them .

DH is in the building trade and has been for many years. He laughed at this and said these days there are so few tasks on a job that aren't done by a power tool, much more cost effective than having someone going along with a screwdriver for example screwing down fifty screws. Measuring up etc is a quiet job but one that takes minutes at most at start of each task. Basically you can't carry out building work quietly for a full afternoon. As pp have said ask them a specific time and see what they say - and then providing they asked nicely ask the builders can they accommodate in two specific short time slots (or whatever)
. If they asked in a demanding or CF way then tell jog on.

When a neighbour asked similar years ago I asked the builders if they would be drilling that day, they said no.
Neighbour text me as they weren't happy about the noise. Messaged back builders said they weren't drilling.
Neighbour wasn't happy as the builders were very noisy knocking down a wall, and gutting the bathroom.

A couple of days later another request and I said no straight away.

I would as a one off. He's not asked that no work be carried out, just that no drilling happen for 1 afternoon. And that's after 3 weeks, so not day 1. I wouldn't for any further requests though and obviously if drilling has to happen then so be it but at least you'll have tried to accommodate his request .

As a one off I would try to accommodate this if there's other stuff the builders can usefully be doing but make it clear to the neighbour that the builders can only work around this request this once.

If they ask again I'd send them a link to a soundproof pod. It's up to people working at home to make it work.

I really do generally think that most decent neighbours will be happy to compromise where noise is concerned. People can be so unpleasant at times for no particular reason!

It's unreasonable - DH is a tradesman & has heard this request a lot over the past year.

This sort of thing causes all sorts of problems, no drilling today means he has to come back tomorrow to finish it so therefore cancel tomorrow's job or can you wait a few weeks until he has a gap to return?

It really is unreasonable

@DragonWillow

It's unreasonable - DH is a tradesman & has heard this request a lot over the past year.

This sort of thing causes all sorts of problems, no drilling today means he has to come back tomorrow to finish it so therefore cancel tomorrow's job or can you wait a few weeks until he has a gap to return?

It really is unreasonable

It is. It’s also entitled and arrogant because it implies that their work is so much more important than the builder’s. Reschedule the calls or go out and find a quiet space.

The thing is OP you could comply and then a helicopter decides to fly over just when they have their call anyway! You can never guarantee no noise (a plane just flew over my house which made me think of it).

I've worked from home for a decade and am absolutely delighted when a neighbour gives advance warning of building works. It gives me a chance to organise another location if need be, or to reschedule tasks that demand quiet surroundings.

Your neighbours have decided not to organise themselves, or perhaps they couldn't. In either case, you nabbed the timeslot first so to speak and although I wouldn't be nasty about saying no, it would be a definite no.

YANBU The work is being carried out within reasonable hours. He can't dictate when your builders can drill. It may be annoying for him but that's working from home for you. He can either go into the office or find another quiet place to work. The trouble with wfh is that quiet can't be guaranteed. His boss and clients will understand that surely. He's not alone in these issues. Try having a child tugging your arm for biscuits or to look at their drawing while you're on zoom. If employers want wfh there has to be compromise.

They can go out somewhere to take the important call, tell them to go to a coffee shop or sit in the car.

I'm very noise-averse. The incessant staccato jabber of other people's radios really irritates me. I've WFH for the past year and had to run the vast majority of my professional activities online - yes, to the tune of building work going on in a neighbour's property.

It would never even have occurred to me to waltz round to their home and make this request. If they were throwing a festival gig in their garden at 2am, yes. But this kind of noise, annoying though it may sometimes be, is a fact of life.

@Dutch1e

I've worked from home for a decade and am absolutely delighted when a neighbour gives advance warning of building works. It gives me a chance to organise another location if need be, or to reschedule tasks that demand quiet surroundings.

Your neighbours have decided not to organise themselves, or perhaps they couldn't. In either case, you nabbed the timeslot first so to speak and although I wouldn't be nasty about saying no, it would be a definite no.

Yes, ‘perhaps they couldn’t’. You don’t get to choose when your telephone/online job interview is or when your telephone hospital consultation takes place.

We don’t know why this request has been made, whether it’s a genuine one off or not.
We also don’t know if the neighbour is able to ‘go elsewhere’ to take the call.

Wouldn’t it be great if everything was as flexible as it seems to be in your life?

What time do builders finish? It usually seems to about 4pm as they start early. I’d plan any especially important call for after that. I’ve lived next door to noisy building works and you just have get on with it. Also shutting doors and windows and sitting at opposite side of house help. I’m not saying all day (it’s hot today) but for the duration of the v important calls would be Ok.

I would ask your builders if there is any way of doing noisier work in morning and say to neighbour you will see what they can do.

Would it hurt, for once?